FLOSSMOOR, IL — Flossmoor Veterans' Memorial, Inc.'s (FVM) seven-year journey to construct a permanent veterans' memorial moves forward on Wednesday, Nov. 11, with the dedication of the Flossmoor Veterans' Wall of Honor.
The dedication will take place at 1 p.m. at the Memorial Wall of Honor site, 2525 Flossmoor Road. A reception will follow at Park Place, 2523 Flossmoor Road. The event is open to the public.
FVM Board President Paul Braun will preside over the dedication ceremony, which will include elements of Flossmoor's 1945 dedication of a World War II Honor Roll in the downtown center island, which is believed to have been lost sometime in the 1950s.
The Homewood-Flossmoor Viking Band will perform at the dedication. Braun will deliver a "dedicatory address" similar to that delivered during the 1945 ceremony, and Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson will offer remarks. Flossmoor Community Church Pastor Julie Van Til will deliver the invocation, similar to the invocation in 1945 given by FCC's Dr. Robert Bell. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Gregory Mitchell, a member of FVM's Board of Directors and a retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel, will preside over wreath-laying tributes to Flossmoor's eight veterans who died in service to the nation. The wreath-laying ceremony will also honor Flossmoor's World War II prisoner of war and its Vietnam serviceman who has been missing in action since 1971. Relatives and friends of those Flossmoor servicemen whose lives were lost will perform the honorary wreath-laying.
"Flossmoor's first memorial to its veterans was dedicated in 1945," Braun said. "The American Legion Post constructed a temporary World War II Honor Roll in the center island at a cost of $113.48 while it raised monies for a permanent marker. That permanent marker never came to be. Today, 81 years after the original dedication, FVM is continuing the legacy of American Legion Post 625 by unveiling this memorial to our community's veterans."
Refreshments will be served in the adjoining Park Place building by members of the FVM Steering Committee and corporate Board of Directors. Residents who require special parking accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act are asked to contact Stephanie Wright at the Village of Flossmoor at 708-957-4500.
For more information on the Flossmoor Veterans' Wall of Honor project, visit @honoringflossmoorvets on Facebook/Instagram, @FlossmoorVWH on X/Twitter, https://flossmoorvets.square.site on the Web, or flossmoorvets@gmail.com via e-mail.
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